SHOW / EPISODE

20 - Whaley House Halloween Special - Part 1

1h 59m | Oct 28, 2026

In this two-part Halloween special, we talk about America’s Most Haunted House®, The Whaley House in San Diego, CA. Join us on this walking tour of haunted tourism, the "enchantment economy", and the history of the house's ghostly legends.

Content Warning - Violet Whaley’s Suicide discussed from 1:16:54-1:28:40

Make contact:

@ghostswerepeopletoo (tumblr/instagram)

gwp2pod@gmail.com

Bibliography (for both part 1 & part 2):

  • Carlson, Marvin. The Haunted Stage: The Theatre as Memory Machine. University of Michigan Press, 2001.
  • Chapman University. Survey of American Fears. 2018.
  • Coleman, Ed, and Jenn Coleman. “The Whaley House.” Coleman Concierge, n.d. [Insert article URL.]
  • Garrick, David. “Old Town San Diego’s Historic Whaley House May Shift to For-Profit Operator.” The San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 Jan. 2021, https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2021/01/06/old-town-san-diegos-historic-whaley-house-may-shift-to-for-profit-operator/ .
  • Glass, Dean. “The Ghosts at the Whaley House Get All the Publicity.” Reflections, Save Our Heritage Organisation.
  • Hanks, Michele M. Haunted Heritage: The Cultural Politics of Ghost Tourism, Populism, and the Past. Routledge, 2016.
  • Houran, James, Sharon A. Hill, Everett D. Haynes, and Ursula A. Bielski. “Paranormal Tourism: Market Study of a Novel and Interactive Approach to Space Activation and Monetization.” Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, vol. 61, no. 3, 2020, pp. 287–311. https://doi.org/10.1177/1938965520909094 .
  • Jackson, Shirley. The Haunting of Hill House. Viking Press, 1959.
  • Magelssen, Scott. “Living History Museums and the Construction of the Real through Performance.” Theatre Survey, vol. 45, no. 1, 2004, pp. 61–74.
  • Magelssen, Scott. Simming: Participatory Performance and the Making of Meaning.
  • McDevitt-Irwin, Jesse, and James R. Irwin. “Infant Mortality among US Whites in the 19th Century: New Evidence from Childhood Sex Ratios.” Demographic Research, vol. 52, 2025, pp. 303–350. https://doi.org/10.4054/DemRes.2025.52.10 .
  • Nunn, Robert. “Flickering Lights and Declaiming Bodies: Semiosis in Film and Theatre.” Theatre Research in Canada / Recherches théâtrales au Canada, vol. 17, no. 2, 1996.
  • Phelan, Peggy. Unmarked: The Politics of Performance. Routledge, 1993.
  • Piper, Liza. “When Scarlet Fever Came to This Country.” When Disease Came to This Country: Epidemics and Colonialism in Northern North America, Cambridge University Press, 2023, pp. 24–57.
  • Rowen, Bess. The Lines Between the Lines: How Stage Directions Affect Embodiment. University of Michigan Press, 2021.
  • Schneider, Rebecca. “Performance Remains.” Performance Research, vol. 6, no. 2, 2001, pp. 100–108.
  • Slayyyter. “WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA.” 2026. [Album or single details to verify.]
  • Stone, Philip R. “A Dark Tourism Spectrum: Towards a Typology of Death and Macabre Related Tourist Sites, Attractions and Exhibitions.” Tourism: An International Interdisciplinary Journal, vol. 54, no. 2, 2006, pp. 145–160.
  • Whaley House. Whaley House Official Website. Historic Tours of America, https://www.whaleyhousesandiego.com/ . Accessed 29 Oct. 2026.
  • Whaley House. Whaley House Website Archives. Internet Archive, https://web.archive.org/ . Accessed 29 Oct. 2026.
  • Wood, Byrd. “Haunted Houses: Preservation Help or Horror?” National Trust for Historic Preservation.
  • The Journal of San Diego History. San Diego Historical Society Quarterly, vol. 6, no. 2, Apr. 1960.
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